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If you're African or African Caribbean and you live in the UK, you're more likely than people from other cultures to have certain health conditions, including high blood pressure (hypertension), diabetes and prostate cancer.

This is also the case for some mixed-race people of African or African Caribbean descent.

Experts aren't sure why these conditions are more common in people of African and African Caribbean origin, but they think it may be linked to diet, lifestyle and different ways of storing fat in the body.

Mental health

People from African and African Caribbean communities are more likely than others to be admitted to hospital for mental illness. The same is also true for people of white and black mixed ethnicity.

Most of us have problems at some time in our lives, such as money worries, stress at work or the death of a loved one, which can affect our mental health.

But people from African and African Caribbean communities can face additional problems that may affect their mental health.

Everyday life has a big impact on mental health, and black communities in the UK are still more likely than others to experience problems such as bad housing, unemployment, stress and racism, all of which can make people ill.

Worldwide, it seems people who move from one country to another have a higher risk of mental illness. This is especially true for black people who move to predominantly white countries, and the risk is even higher for their children.

While mental illness is no more common in Africa or the Caribbean than it is in the UK as a whole, it's a bigger problem for African and African Caribbean communities living in the UK.

Our section on mental health has information on where to go for help and support, and what you can do to maintain good mental health.